The Unbreakable Bond of Friendship and Corndogs
by The Lightning Knight
Summary: He tried so hard to be good with people, and never succeeded. Even now, the last person he thought he would even like or respect... was his friend.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, I just watched the Total Drama season 3 finale. **

**It inspired me to write this. I'm sort of going out on a limb here, and only have a vague idea of where this story is going. However, I am planning on making it about two characters from completely different ends of the fan spectrum; Ezekiel and Duncan. This chapter is mainly Zeke-centric. As I have said before, I consider him my alter-ego. According to TV Tropes, he was killed off for real, but I say NAY! XD And according to some fans, the guy in the latter half of season 3 wasn't him... Eh, this story doesn't go with that, but that would also make a good premise... **

**Please, please, PLEASE, reviewers and Total Drama writers, help me with this. I want this story to represent the fans and what THEY want. Give me your pairing, subplot, and other ideas. Oh, and tell which characters you most want me to focus on! **

**Also, I have not given up on Total Drama Challenge; that is still being written, but it may be a while. In The Cargo Hold sort of evolved into this. **

**Pairings: Izzy/Ezekiel/Bridgette, Sierra/Cody/Gwen/Ezekiel, more to come. **

* * *

"Okay, Zeke… you can come out now."

The boy hesitantly walked out onto the pool area in the hotel. Even he was impressed by his own recovery; his skin, other than some minor burn marks, was almost back to normal. Luckily, he still had his toque; his hair wasn't exactly at its best. It was nice to be in clean clothes now, and to get regular meals.

Even though he only remembered bits and pieces of the whole ordeal, it still intimidated him. No, he was not traumatized by volcanoes, or airplanes, or even rats. No; the experience did not make him scared of anything you would expect.

Ezekiel was terrified of people.

They were the reason that he went through it all; after watching the first season of Total Drama, he saw how much he stuck out from the other teens. He always said the wrong thing, he dressed strange, and after browsing the internet, he found that a lot of the fan base only associated him with the comments he made…

…And the inability to win.

Even though he sat quietly in season 2, not wanting to say or do anything stupid (which he ended up doing; stupid clapping! Why couldn't he just be silent for once?), but then later he found the confidence to be a winner.

When the celebrity manhunt crew interviewed him, Ezekiel attempted to be as cool and confidant as possible. It looked ridiculous, but he hoped it was in an endearing way.

There was a list of things he made for season 3; a list of behaviors he would pick up.

Never be silent; Ezekiel left his first elimination looking like a sorry loser. It wouldn't happen again.

Do NOT be voted off first (or at all); if he was, he would return like Izzy did.

Make the other contestants like him.

Zeke didn't know why he made the last rule, but it stuck in his head. It made sense. After all; everyone thought he was a sexist, nose-picking poser. If he could make one friend (or find a purty girl, heh-heh), he would be happy. Maybe Harold; he may have been a traitor, but the guy was funny and was Ezekiel's good friend on the island. He also thought about DJ, who was nice to everyone, and then Bridgette… no, she didn't even want to say his name, let alone be with him…

As a friend! Of course…

Unfortunately, none of this turned out very well.

Harold became his worst enemy (next to Heather and… the "bad man). Ezekiel understood why he was voted off; they had to drop someone, and he committed the greatest offense. But the way Harold acted… treating him like he was the worst player on the show… it really got to him. DJ was nice, but Zeke knew that his only chance was to vote him off. Bridgette… she talked to him, once. But he tried not to think about her. Lindsay and Beth seemed to have forgotten about him after the million-dollar hunt; they didn't even invite him to Paris! He should have just grabbed the case and run to the dock. This idea may have inspired a later action. His only "friend" that season was Alejandro; sure, the guy was evil and manipulative, but he never had time to manipulate Zeke, and was the only one to help him after the feral thing kicked in. Even if he did unleash him on Heather, at first the guy seemed genuinely glad to help the wild boy.

Ezekiel did see Alejandro in some physical therapy classes… the poor guy was sort of depressed. From what he could remember of the earlier days, Ezekiel would try to comfort him by laying down in his lap, which the ace didn't seem to mind. Later, once some of his old self came back, the two helped each other with their similar volcanic damages. After they departed, however, the other guy didn't seem so happy to see him, and avoided conversation. Ezekiel didn't understand why, but left him alone anyway.

Izzy! Izzy was his friend! How could he forget the bus ride?

* * *

Owen was hyperventilating, held down by DJ. Ezekiel, meanwhile, was listening to rap on an iPod while trying to find a seat.

Then he saw that red-haired girl – Izzy? – and decided to practice talking to girls with her.

"Excuse me, fexy momma," he said boldly, grinning at his own word, "Shall I grace you with my bling, yo, eh?"

"Sure! Owen was going to sit here, but then he remembered that we were going to a plane."

When Ezekiel talked with her, he actually felt like he wasn't annoying someone. She did scare him sometimes, but it was mostly funny to him. She thought that growing up on a farm sounded fun, and she seemed close to animals.

When they got out, she was the only person who was actually nice to and didn't ignore him. She instead jumped on his shoulders and caused him to fall over. It was a bit odd, but that was the first time he was that close to a girl that wasn't related to him.

* * *

"I need to talk to her…" he thought aloud. Then he saw the group of people and let out a light whimper.

They didn't want him.

After being separated, so to speak, from people, it seemed more logical to fear them. There were exceptions; his nurse, for example, and Alejandro (at least, at one point for the latter). He became close to the son of his best friend on the plane, a rat he named Barfbag. The poor little guy (or girl, as he later figured out)… he couldn't even think about it. When he was given the option to any present he wanted, he bought Victory, a fancy rat, to be a companion to Barfbag's son so he wouldn't get lonely.

DJ's mother was a surprisingly good helper to the doctors in the area. Although she had once wacked him with a stick, she had true compassion for Zeke and contempt for… the bad man… after all he had been through.

"Excuse me, ladies," Oh, no. "Ezekiel just got out of recovery and will be joining you… why not go and greet him?"

Bridgette and Courtney looked at each other and nodded, walking over to the recovered prairie boy.

"Hey, Ezekiel." Bridgette smiled. He felt somewhat cornered, even though he could run if he wanted to.

"Can… you… hear… us?" Courtney asked him slowly. She came up a little closer and he flinched.

"Courtney! You're scaring him!" Bridgette scolded, seeing the fear in his eyes, and then proceeded to talk to him. "How's it going?"

"I-I…" he stammered. He wasn't used to this level of kindness from someone like her. He knew it was a charity thing to her; who wouldn't feel bad for the guy who tried to win and ended up becoming a monster that fell into a volcano?

Oh, that's right.

Half of the Total Drama fan base.

"Can you speak full sentences?" Bridgette asked him. He gulped, and then nodded.

Eventually, more people crowded around to see. Ezekiel felt trapped, like the volcano, and cargo hold, and the water. What he felt before was coming back.

No.

It couldn't.

He pushed his way between two big guys (DJ and Leshawna?) and ran to the room that he was assigned, the one he had the room key for.

Ezekiel thought that he was alone.

Then he heard laughter.

"Having trouble here, Homeschool?"

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, the "big guys" thing was on purpose; he was panicking. **


	2. Chapter 2

"Wha?" Ezekiel turned around to see who was speaking to him.

"Duncan?"

"Yeah," the punk smirked, "Your nurse said that we would be roommates once you came out of therapy. What freaked you out so badly?"

"W-we're roommates?" he shivered at the thought. Before… the incident, Duncan was someone that he looked up to and feared at the same time. He took the guy's charge to learn about the "real world" literally and to heart; it became his goal. However, Duncan also scared him, so he remained distant. Now… he remembered how the guy made fun of him, and that he was about the scariest person around the area.

"Yeah. Just don't grab any of my stuff, and we'll be fine."

"Y-yeah… o'okay."

The bully smirked. "What happened to the 'gangsta jiggity' Zeke back at Celebrity Manhunt?"

This got the homeschooled boy quiet, and he looked away. It was too much to think about…

"I mean, seriously, you used to be a wannabe-gangsta. What happened?"

It was all too much…

"I asked you a question, Homeschool."

"Fine! Do you want to know what happened? Everyone! Everything! How would you like to be singled out by Chris? You were forced back in! I would have done anything to be in your place, eh. I never saw you loose your entire… identity! I never saw you fall into a volcano!" he knew that he would probably be beat to a toque-wearing pulp, but at this point, the Zeke didn't care. "So forgive me if I don't provide you amusement from trying to actually fit in somewhere!"

Ezekiel flinched, waiting for Duncan to retaliate; he was almost sure that the Mohawk-wearing teen would come up with some lame argument that getting bad reactions for cheating on your girlfriend is worse than almost killing yourself in a form you don't recognize. And then Chris would be secretly taping it. Then the Duncan fans would cheer him on for "telling it like it is".

But the punk didn't say anything.

He didn't do anything.

Ezekiel looked up, and actually saw a look of regret and sorrow on Duncan's face.

"Wow…" he said, somewhat hesitantly, "I guess that it really does suck to be Zeke."

Ezekiel slowly nodded, then sat back down. After some silence, Duncan spoke up.

"H-hey, I'm making corndogs for supper… You want me to fix you some?"

"Sure, eh."

Why was he being so nice? This is the same guy who threatened to drop Owen on his head for not joining an alliance. True, he was somewhat motherly in season 2, but that was when no one was watching.

After Duncan had put the corndogs in the microwave for two minutes, he handed Ezekiel his on a plate, and sat down beside him.

"Thanks… and, I'm so'orry for going off on you, eh."

Duncan took a bite out of his corndog. "That's fine…You've been through a lot. But don't expect me to do everything for you because of it. I ain't no pushover, Homeschool."

"Oh, I know."

Later, because of the doctor's orders (two words he hated hearing), Ezekiel had to go out to the pool area and "hang out" with other teens. Unlike before, they were all friendly to him. That should make him feel good shouldn't it? But it didn't…

"Hey, Zeke." DJ said gently, offering a high-five. "Remember me?"

"Yeah… you jumped on my back to get away from the scarabs, remember?"

"Oh, yeah…" the brickhouse rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay, eh." He started to move on, passing Owen and Noah.

"…But Noah, they really didn't record us reuniting."

"It's better that way. I don't want anyone ever seeing or hearing about that. Got it?"

"Oh, alright." Owen said, somewhat sadly. "We're still friends, right?"

"What other choice do I have?" Noah muttered.

At least Zeke had some leeway over them now… not that he'd need it, he hoped.

"What's up, Homeschool?" this was followed by a slap, and a "What?" Ezekiel just chose to ignore Bridgette and Geoff after a quick glance.

There needed to be someone he could "interact with" who wouldn't make him feel uncomfortable. Maybe… that goth girl, the one who was quiet and dated Duncan. (Well, last he checked she did) Gwen. Yeah, that was her name.

Hesitantly, he approached her at a juice bar. "H-hey." He said nervously, rubbing his arm.

The loner looked up from her sketch book. "Oh, hey Zeke." She went back to drawing. Ezekiel took the seat next to her. "So'ory, I don't want to bug you, but… doctor's orders."

"No, that's fine." She paused. "Why do you need juice?"

"No, I need human interaction. Duncan doesn't count because he's my roommate."

She cringed a little. "You got Duncan as a roommate?"

"Yeah, but he was nice to me, eh. He gave me corndogs."

Gwen laughed.

"Whut?" he probably said something wrong, or dirty, without meaning to. He pulled his toque over the left side of his face.

"Well, it's just… Duncan shared his corndogs with you? I have to force him to even share with me." she leaned in eagerly at the homeschooled boy, to his surprised. "What's your secret?"

"Um…" he was a bit taken aback by the goth girl being so close. "I-I actually yelled at him, eh. Told 'im that I wasn't going to speak all 'gangsta' just because he thinks that it's funny, eh."

"He… he did what?" Gwen looked a little annoyed now. "Well, he can get like that… by the way, not to be mean, but… what happened to the bling?"

Zeke turned away. "It wasn't worth it."

"Oh…I… I'm sorry. I didn't even think about… you know."

"It's okay to talk about it, eh. I'm not afraid of it…"

"All that happened to you… do you remember it all?"

"Some, eh. I-I remember wanting to win. I remember thinking that the case was mine. I remember the burning."

"W-well if it helps, you look okay now." She reached out her hand and stroked his pale arm that had, at one point, been a sickly green color. Then she looked up at his face… a couple or three patches and some scars and small burn marks on him. Then she saw the stringy brown threads running down from under his toque.

"Ahem."

"Oh, hey, Duncan!" Ezekiel said in a friendly manner.

"Hey, Homeschool." Duncan seemed… annoyed. Zeke didn't know why, but it may have something to do with Gwen.

"What is it, eh?" he asked after Duncan had dragged him to the other side of the juice bar.

"Just… look, here's one thing you should have learned; do not hit on someone else's girl."

Ezekiel looked shocked. "But… I- we… I… e…"

"Look, I know that you're pretty much hopeless when you try to catch on," Duncan told him, poking at his chest, "But if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from her."

He gulped. "O-Okay."

"Good."

"Wait, um, Duncan!"

"Huh?"

"I-if I did like a girl- not Gwen, eh – but anyo'other girl… ho'ow wo'od I ask her out, eh?"

Duncan smirked. "Who is she? Because Malibu's taken."

"Who's Malibu?"

The punk rolled his eyes. "Bridgette."

Ezekiel blushed. "N-no!"

"Whatever"

"Well, th-that redhead girl is sorta pretty, eh." He didn't want Duncan to think that he was a little boy who didn't like girls yet.

"Izzy? The nutjob?"

Zeke never noticed anything crazy about Izzy, nor her being worked on by peanuts. He just remembered how she had talked to him and been his friend. "Um… she's nice, eh?"

"Well, if you really like her, go for it, man."

He shyly walked over to Izzy; whether he wanted her as more than friends or not, he wanted to talk to her again.

"H-hey, Izzy…"

"Zeke! Hey! Okay, so I have this totally weird story I have to tell you-"

He smiled.

He was making progress.


End file.
